Clancy becomes The University of Tulsa's 20th president - The University of Tulsa
Close Menu
Close Menu

Clancy becomes The University of Tulsa’s 20th president

clancy-president-squareOn Nov. 1, 2016, The University of Tulsa welcomed its 20th president, Dr. Gerard “Gerry” Clancy. He had been named president-designate by the TU Board of Trustees in May 2016 and had been transitioning to succeed Steadman Upham, who retired after serving as president for 12 years.

“I have had no greater honor than to serve The University of Tulsa,” Upham said. “Gerry will be an exemplary president for TU. He has served the university and the Tulsa community with enormous energy and a boundless supply of innovative ideas.”

Clancy previously served as TU’s vice president of health affairs and dean of the Oxley College of Health Sciences since Jan. 1, 2015. Prior to arriving at TU, he served as president of the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa for eight years.

Clancy joined OU in 2001 as dean of the College of Medicine in Tulsa, professor of psychiatry and Morningside Health Care Foundation Endowed Chair in Leadership. During his tenure as president, OU-Tulsa added more than $327 million in new facilities, academic degree programs, endowed faculty chairs and student scholarships. The campus also established educational and research partnerships with more than 100 community agencies.

“I am tremendously excited about what lies ahead for The University of Tulsa,” Clancy said. “TU’s mission of educating students to think critically, give to their communities and serve as leaders is vital to our future. The university has been set on a path to make a difference locally and globally through students, faculty and alumni who succeed in their careers and their personal lives. I will work to ensure that those goals are met and that our university thrives.”

Clancy earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Iowa, where he later served as a faculty member and vice chairman of the Department of Psychiatry. He is a graduate of the Harvard University Programs in Health Care Policy and Management and Non-Profit Financial Stewardship and served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon.

Clancy and his wife, Paula, have been married more than 30 years and have three children: Sam, an attorney, whose wife teaches at Rogers High School; Mary, a graduate speech pathology student at TU; and Joseph, a senior at Bishop Kelley High School.